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Natural weapon
Natural weapons are weapons that are physically a part of a creature. A creature making a melee attack with a natural weapon is considered armed and does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Likewise, it threatens any space it can reach. Creatures do not receive additional attacks from a high base attack bonus when using natural weapons. The number of attacks a creature can make with its natural weapons depends on the type of the attack—generally, a creature can make one bite attack, one attack per claw or tentacle, one gore attack, one sting attack, or one slam attack (although Large creatures with arms or arm-like limbs can make a slam attack with each arm). Refer to the individual monster descriptions. Unless otherwise noted, a natural weapon threatens a critical hit on a natural attack roll of 20. When a creature has more than one natural weapon, one of them (or sometimes a pair or set of them) is the primary weapon. All the creature’s remaining natural weapons are secondary. The primary weapon is given in the creature’s Attack entry, and the primary weapon or weapons is given first in the creature’s Full Attack entry. A creature’s primary natural weapon is its most effective natural attack, usually by virtue of the creature’s physiology, training, or innate talent with the weapon. An attack with a primary natural weapon uses the creature’s full attack bonus. Attacks with secondary natural weapons are less effective and are made with a -5 penalty on the attack roll, no matter how many there are. (Creatures with the Multiattack feat take only a -2 penalty on secondary attacks.) This penalty applies even when the creature makes a single attack with the secondary weapon as part of the attack action or as an attack of opportunity. Natural weapons have types just as other weapons do. The most common are summarized below. *Bite The creature attacks with its mouth, dealing piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning damage. *Claw or Talon The creature rips with a sharp appendage, dealing piercing and slashing damage. *Gore The creature spears the opponent with an antler, horn, or similar appendage, dealing piercing damage. *Slap or Slam The creature batters opponents with an appendage, dealing bludgeoning damage. *Sting The creature stabs with a stinger, dealing piercing damage. Sting attacks usually deal damage from poison in addition to hit point damage. *Tentacle The creature flails at opponents with a powerful tentacle, dealing bludgeoning (and sometimes slashing) damage. How Fighting With Natural Weapons Works Main hand weapons are weapons you get your iterative attacks with. This is NOT required to be a single weapon. You could make main hand attacks with 3 different weapons, so long as you have enough BAB to make 3 attacks. Main hand attacks typically get 1x +str, unless you wield them in both hands. Note: You don't actually have to wield a weapon in any hands, provided its description allows it. Offhand weapons are weapons who's attacks are derived from the two weapon fighting (henceforth to be referred to as TWFing) combat option, or through the higher tier TWFing feats. You don't need TWFing to TWF, but it helps reduce the penalties. You DO need Improved TWF and Greater TWF to make more than one offhand attack. All offhand attacks have to be with the same weapon, and it can't be with any weapon you used as part of your iterative attacks. Offhand attacks only ever recieve .5x +str damage, regardless of how many hands you wield them with. If you aren't TWFing, you don't have an offhand. Primary natural attacks are a creature's main mode of attack. This is typically an attack with either the highest damage, or a combat ability such as Improved Grab. Its also typically the attack a creature makes AoOs and standard action attacks with. Primary natural attacks almost always get 1x Str, although some creatures, especially those with only a single natural weapon, may get 1.5x. There is no hard rule for this though, so consult a stat block for more details. In the presence of a weapon capable of making iteratives (manufactured weapon or UAS), all primary weapons are converted to secondary natural weapons. A natural attack that is full (such as carrying gear or a manufactured weapon) can not make attacks. Secondary natural attacks are a creature's alternate modes of attack. During a full attack, each other natural weapon the creature possesses may make 1 attack at -5 from highest AB (-2 with Multiattack). Secondary natural weapons always only receive .5x+Str regardless of whether or not they dealt 1x or 1.5x as primary weapons. A natural attack that is full (such as carrying gear or a manufactured weapon) can not make attacks. Obtaining Natural Weapons Now, how do we get natural weapons? There are several routes, such as race, template, spells, and etc that can grant them. Naturally, even the best natural weapons are useless without a means of reliably achieving full attacks. The best natural weapons to get are ones that will not be occupied when you make your regular attacks. For example, a fighter who uses a greatsword would be better off with tails, bites, and tentacles rather than claws. A monk, on the other hand, is capable of making an unarmed strike with any part of his body so he can take on as many natural weapons as he feels like. Enchanting Natural Weapons The Amulet of Mighty Fists is three times as expensive as it should be, so it is only worthwhile if you have 3 or more natural weapons. The Necklace of Natural Weapons from Savage Species is cheaper to enchant and offers more options than just enhancement bonuses, but only applies to one natural weapon. Unfortunately, both options take up a neck slot. The Fanged Ring (Dragon Magic) grants INA and deals 1 Con damage on a critical hit, which is a pretty useful property to have. Only costs 10,000 gp. Jaws of the Dragon (Draconomicon) grants a bite attack as a creature one size larger for 40,000 gp. Wyrmfang Amulet from the MIC is 1350 vs the 2500 for the one in Draconomicon. Bands of Blood Rage from the MIC will boost all of your natural attacks for 2600 gp. The Ghost Shroud from the MiC costs 5,000 gp and will grant you a +1 deflection bonus to AC and give your attacks the Ghost Touch property, allowing you to bust ghosts. The best method for enchanting is probably the Kensai, which can enchant all of its natural weapons for XP. It’s not even a bad class for melee types. Failing that, if you're a Druid or have access to a Druid, casting Superior Magic Fang will give an enhancement bonus to all of your natural weapons. Get more attacks Classes *Animal Lord: Varies. Complete Adventurer. *Barbarian: Whirling Frenzy alternate class feature. Adds 1 extra attack when you Rage. Unearthed Arcana. *Beast Heart Adept: Opportunist ability with your companions. *Bloodstorm Blade: Can make ranged attacks as melee attacks (Power Attack, all sorts of other abuse). Blade Storm ability lets you strike multiple targets with an Iron Heart Strike. Tome of Battle. *Bloodclaw Master: Gives you a claws limited times per day. Tome of Battle. *Crinti Shadow Marauder: Has the infamous Shadow Pounce ability, which lets you make a full attack every time you move using an ability with the teleport descriptor. Once you cobble together a Swift, Move, and Standard teleport actions, you can easily get 3 or more full attacks per round. Shining South pg 23. *Deepstone Sentinel: Has a several ways to create difficult terrain (preventing Charge, 5 ft steps) and to knock enemies Prone. Tome of Battle. *Demonbinder: Marilith form gives you 2 extra arms. *Dervish: Capstone ability lets you make double the number of attacks once per day. I'm not a fan due to the weak pre-reqs and generally sub-par class abilities, but it's a popular PrC. Complete Warrior. *Disciple of the Eye: Grants Flurry of Blows (even if you don't have Monk levels). Races of the Dragon. *Dragon Disciple: 2 levels get you a primary bite and 2 secondary claw attacks. *Druid: Wildshape, the source of nearly unlimited abuse! PHB. *Exotic Weapon Master: 1 extra attack with an Exotic Weapon. Comp Warrior. *Fang of Lolth: Bite and extra limbs. Also provides Sneak Attack and other goodies. Unfortunately, it's 3.0 material. Song and Silence. *Frenzied Berzerker: Adds one extra attack when in a Frenzy. Doesn't stack with Haste/Speed. Comp Warrior. *Geomancer: A Mystic Thurge-ish PrC. Starting at 5th level (ECL 11ish) the "Drifts" that you gain each level can add natural weapons. This includes more then one type of gore, claws, bite, sting, a wolf's ability to Trip as a Free Action, a bear's Improved Grab, an elephant's trample, and poison. So by ECL 16 you can gain 6 natural attacks, plus your normal attack routine, plus your spells (from a somewhat nerfed progression). Combine with Arcane Strike and/or Divine Power + Power Attack for awesomeness. Complete Divine pg 41. *Green Star Adept: Provides a natural slam attack. Complete Arcane. *Knight: Variety of class abilities that make it difficult for your enemy to move and/or generate attacks of opportunity. PHBII. *Master of Masks: Claws that count as magical for DR. Complete Scoundrel. *Master of Many Forms: Gives you a host of different forms for your Wildshape ability. Complete Adventurer. *Master Thrower: Several different Thrown Weapon Tricks can increase the number of attacks you make. Complete Warrior. *Master Transmogrifist: 10 levels allow you to add one form's natural attacks to another’s. All sorts of polymorph abuse is already possible, which should be avoided. Complete Arcane. *Monk: Flurry of Blows provides extra attacks. PHB. *Lion Legionnaire Paladin substitution level: Trade Turn Undead ability for the ability to make an extra attack 3 + Cha mod times per day. Champions of Valor pg 45. *Rogue: Opportunist class ability can grant one additional AoO per turn. The once per round prohibition can be removed by the Savvy Rogue feat (Comp Scoundrel pg 80) though still no more then once per opponent. PHB. *Scorpion Heritor 10: Grants a poisonous tail attack for 1 hour per day. Sandstorm. *Tempest: Improves Spring Attack. Also Dance of Death once per day. Complete Adventurer. *Telflammar Shadowlord: Like the Crinti Shadow Marauder, the Shadowlord has the Shadow Pounce ability. Unapproachable East pg 36. *Totemist: Aparrently one of the best ways to add natural attacks, assuming you use Incarnum. Magic of Incarnum. *Warmind 5: Sweeping Strike ability: Each melee attack also effects an adjacent enemy. Expanded Psionics Handbook. *Warshaper: Can grow extra natural attacks. Open to a lot of abuse, so talk to your DM. Complete Warrior. *Wildrunner: 2 levels gets you a secondary bite attack. Races of the Wild. Feats *Cleave: Extra attack after dropping an enemy. Limit 1 per round. PHB. *Cleave, Great: Removes limit from Cleave. (Sucks). PHB. *Combat Reflexes: You can take more then one AoO per turn, and can take AoO while Flat Footed. PHB. *Close Quarters Fighting: A Grapple against you always provokes an AoO, even if the enemy has Improved Grab or Improved Grapple. Comp Warrior pg 97. *Deepspawn: 2 tentacle attacks from your waist. Requires Aberration Blood, one other aberrant feat. Lords of Madness. *Defensive Sweep: If an opponent starts their turn adjacent to you and doesn’t move this round, they provoke an AoO at the end of the turn. PHBII pg 78. *Defensive Throw: If the target of your Dodge feat attacks you and misses, you may make a Trip attack AoO against them. Comp Warrior pg 97. *Deformity (teeth): Bite attack. Deformities have a feat pre-req of Willing Deformity and Evil alignment. Heroes of Horror. *Deformity (clawed hands): Ambiguously worded claws. Book of Vile Darkness. *Double Hit: When you make an AoO, you may attack with 2 weapons. Precision damage only counts for one, but it’s still useful for certain builds. Miniatures Handbook pg 25. *Draconic Claw: Gain a natural claw attack. Any round that you cast a Standard Action spell, you can attack with your claw as a Swift Action. Requires Draconic Heritage (which in turn requires 1 level of Sorcerer) Complete Arcane pg 77. *Draconic Tail: Kobold only, 1st level only, gives you a tail attack. Races of the Dragon. *Extra Shifter Trait: Gives you another Shifter trait. Longtooth will add a bite attack while Shifting, or Razorclaw will add 2 claws while Shifting. Eberron Campaign Setting. *Hold the Line: When an enemy Charges you, they provoke when they enter a square you threaten. Resolved before the Charge attack. Comp Warrior pg 100. *Hurling Charge: When you Charge an enemy, you get a free thrown weapon attack during your Charge and then attack with your melee weapon at the end of the Charge. Unfortunately, the text of the feat explicitly rules out the use of Pounce. But for ECL 6 or lower builds, it's still a nice way to add an extra attack. Requires Quickdraw. Miniatures Handbook pg 27. *Illithid Grapple: Each feat buys you one tentacle attack which can be used as a primary or secondary attack. You also gain the Improved Grab ability with your tentacles. You can take this up to four times. Requires Illithid Heritage and one other illithid feat. Complete Psionic. *Jaws of Death: Gives a Warforged a bite attack. Races of Eberron. *Karmic Strike: Take a penalty to AC. Whenever an enemy hits you, you get an AoO (resolved after their attack). Comp Warrior pg 102. *Mage Slayer: Casters can’t cast defensively in your threatened area. Complete Arcane. *Multiweapon Fighting: Reduces the penalties for fighting with 3 or more hands. Monster Manual. *Overhead Thrust: Against an attack designed to batter you from above (Trample, Overrun, Power Dive, Dragon Crush) you get an AoO. This attacks gets a bonus to hit based on your enemy’s size, and deals triple damage. (A really lenient DM might allow a Tiny player to allow this to provoke for all attacks against them. But I doubt it). Draconomicon pg 106. *Practiced Binder: Bind Amon to get a Ram attack. Tome of Magic. *Prehensile Tail: You can use your tail attack as an arm. This is the most efficient way to qualify for Multiweapon Fighting, as there are half a dozen easy ways to get a tail attack (Draconic Tail being the easiest). Serpent Kingdoms pg 147. *Rapidstrike and Improved Rapidstrike: Allows extra natural attacks. Very poorly worded and limited to certain creature types, so check with your DM. Draconomicon. *Robilar’s Gambit: Take a penalty to AC. Whenever an enemy swings at you, you get an AoO (resolved after their attack). PHBII pg 82. *Slashing Fury: Adds an extra attack, but imposes a bit To-Hit penalty and has lousy pre-reqs. PHBII pg 82. *Shape Soulmeld -> Open Chakra feats: I highly suggest reading through Magic of Incarnum. Several soulmelds/chakra binds (all day buffs) grant natural weapons or other highly useful abilities, and (like the Tome of Battle) the mechanics of the system are set up in such a way that any class can access some of the powers through feats (though some of the best require 2 levels of Totemist). Magic of Incarnum. *Snap Kick: Whenever making an attack (be it a single attack, full round attack or strike) you gain an extra unnarmed strike. Tome of Battle. *Spectral Skirmisher feat: When Invisible, enemies attacking your square generate AoO. PHBII pg 83. *Spinning Halberd: Extra attack with a halberd. Interestingly enough, it doesn't preclude you from using TWF (a pre-req). So you can use a Halberd with armor spikes or an unarmed strike and to gain 2 extra attacks. Comp Warrior pg 114. Dragon Magazine also has a dozen different polearm related feats, including Haft Strike (DR 331) which lets you use a polearm as a double weapon. *Supernatural Instincts: Supernatural Abilities provoke an AoO (but do not stop them from occurring). Fiendish Codex II pg 85. *Supernatural Opportunist: Supernatural Abilities provoke an AoO (but do not stop them from occurring). Basically the same as Supernatural Instincts, though the wording of how each ability is used is slightly different. Tome of Magic pg 75. *Two Weapon Fighting tree: Reduces penalties for off hand attack. Taking the other TWF feats in the feat tree add additional attacks. PHB. *Xeph Celerity: You can expend a Xeph Burst (usable 3/day) as a Swift Action to gain an extra attack. Complete Psionic pg 59. Items and Grafts *Arms of the Naga: Expensive, and mentions a restriction that they can't be used for additional attacks... although there might be a way around that if you get creative. Savage Species p. 55, 56000 GP. *Arms of Plenty: 2 extra clawed hands. Lords of Madness. *Bearskin Armor: +1 Breastplate that provides 2 claw attacks and +5 ft to your natural reach for a limited number of rounds each day. Also provides a variety of other abilities. Magic Item Compendium pg 16, 14,350. *Buffeting Wings draconic graft: Adds a natural flight speed and 2 slam attacks, though you can't attack with weapons or use a shield the same round (though you can use other natural weapons). Very expensive, but worth looking at for a high level build since buffet attacks are pretty rare. Races of the Dragon pg 127, 100,000 gp. *Fanged Mask: Adds an all day magic bite attack, plus a limited use Stun attack. Magic Item Compendium pg 99. *Gloves of Man: While they don't give you hands themselves, they do allow tentacles or other non-arm appendages to manipulate objects as fully-functional hands with opposable thumbs. Unfortunately, they cost almost as much as Arms of the Naga. Savage Species p. 57, 42000 GP. *Gloves of the Balanced Hand: Grants the Two Weapon Fighting feat. If you already have Improved Two Weapon Fighting, it grants an additional attack as if you had Improved Two Weapon Fighting. Magic Item Compendium pg 105, 8,000 gp. *Horned Helm: Grants a magical Gore attack. Magic Item Compendium pg 112, 8,000 gp. *Net: Escaping from a net provokes an attack of opportunity. Use one on an enemy, and be sure he is also standing in your threatened range. You're essentially getting a free attack and debuff. You're getting extra attacks if an ally is also threatening him. Don't bother with spending a feat on Exotic Weapon Proficiency, as it's a touch attack to use. PHB. *Phylactery of Change: Somewhat affordable all-day polymorph. It can only go up to 7HD, but that easily covers most of the low-level multi-armed creatures. A&EG p. 135, 11200 GP. *Serpent Armor: +1 leather armor that grants you the Combat Reflexes feat. Magic Item Compendium pg 21, 12,160. *Spare Hand: Extra arm that can only hold things. Magic of Eberron. *Speed weapon enhancement: 1 extra attack when you make a full attack. Doesn’t stack with other Speed/Haste effects. DMG. *Third Arm: This magic item can hold things, and can attack if you power it with an Artificer infusion. There's a more expensive version that has two additional arms instead of just one. Magic of Eberron. *Tigerskin Armor: +1 Mithral shirt that provides 2 claw attacks and +5 ft to your natural reach for a limited number of rounds each day. Also provides a variety of other abilities. Magic Item Compendium pg 22, 17,100 gp. Maneuvers/Powers/Spells*Alter Self: By starting out with an aberration, monstrous humanoid or outsider race (Elan, Neraph, or Anthropomorphic can be LA +0), you can alter into a Tako, Thri-Kreen, Diopsid, or some other multi-armed creature. Magical beasts such as Girallons are a little tougher. PHB. *Bite of the Wolf: Manifest a primary or secondary bite attack. Psionic Power. *Bite of the Were-whatever: Variety of spells (werewolf, wererat, werebear) that grant a bite and/or claw attacks, and nifty stat bonuses. Spell Compendium. *Charge of the Triceratops: Grow a primary or secondary gore attack. Spell Compendium. *Claws of the Beast: Claws with damage that scale with size and manifester level. Google the "King of Smack" and you'll see how easily it can be abused. The one down side is that Claws of the Beast explicitly cannot be combined with other attacks. *Dancing Mongoose: Gain one additional attack with each weapon you wield (max 2). Tiger Claw boost. Tome of Battle pg 86. *Evard's Menacing Tentacle's: 2 tentacles grow from shoulders. PHB II. *Extend Tentacles: +5 ft. reach to all tentacles. Spell Compendium. *Fearsome Grapple: Grow 4 tentacles that can only be used for grappling. Spell Compendium. *Flashing Sun: Adds an additional attack as part of a full attack. Desert Wind strike. Tome of Battle pg. 54. *Flaying Tendrils: Grow 4 mind flayer tentacles. Complete Mage. *Form of Doom: Adds 4 tentacle attacks. *Girallon's Blessing: Grow 2 extra arms. Spell Compendium. *Girallon Windmill Fleshrip: Adds extra damage (up to 20d6) based on the number of attacks you make. Also, I just thoroughly enjoy writing and saying Girallon Windmill Fleshrip. Tiger Claw boost. Tome of Battle pg 87. *Gutsnake: Grow a snake tentacle. Spell Compendium. *Haste: 1 extra attack when you make a full attack. Doesn’t stack with other Speed/Haste effects. PHB. *Polymorph: Turn into something with lots of attacks. PHB. *Polymorph Any Object: Like Polymorph, but can be permanent if you're roughly the same size and type as the new form. PHB. *Raging Mongoose: Gain 2 extra attacks with each weapon you wield (max 4 extra attacks). Tiger Claw boost. Tome of Battle pg 89. *Time Stands Still: You get two full attacks as a full round action. Diamond Mind Strike. Tome of Battle pg 66. *Thicket of Blades stance. Enemies provoke AoO for any movement. It specifically cites 5 ft steps and Withdraw Actions. It’s silent about whether or not it provokes as if your enemy Tumbles through your threatened area. Devoted Spirit, Tome of Battle/url. *Triple Strike (Wiz 5): Spell that grants two extra attacks on a full attack, in addition to Keen and Flaming Burst effects, to multiple targets. Only lasts one round, but it should be a freaking awesome round for your party, especially if you've spent some time Summoning beforehand. Lost Empires of Faerun 33. Soulmelds:*Ankheg Breastplate (bound to Totem chakra): Gain a Bite attack. Each point of essentia invested in it adds 1d4 Acid damage. Note that binding a soulmeld to your Totem chakra requires 2 levels of Totemist. Most other chakra slots can be accessed through feats. Magic of Incarnum pg 57. *Behir Gorget (bound to Totem chakra): Gain a Bite attack. Each point of essentia invested in it adds 1d4 Electricity damage. Magic of Incarnum pg 60. *Blood Talons (bound to Totem chakra): Gain 2 claw attacks. Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit with the claws. Magic of Incarnum pg 61. *Brass Mane (bound to Totem chakra): Gain a bite attack. Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage with your bite. Magic of Incarnum pg 62. *Claws of the Wyrm: Gain 2 claw attacks. Noteworthy in that it doesn’t need to be bound to a chakra slot in order to gain the extra attacks. Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage with the claws. Dragon Magic. *Chaos Roc's Span: Gain 2 wing buffet attacks. Noteworthy in that it doesn’t need to be bound to a chakra slot in order to gain the extra attacks, and that wing attacks are rare. They deal non-lethal damage unless bound to your Shoulders, which also adds a Save or Daze effect. Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage with your wings. Dragon Magazine 350 pg 87. *Displacer Mantle (bound to Totem chakra): As a full round action you can make 2 tentacle attacks. They have +5 reach and a +1 bonus to damage per point of essentia invested in them. But because it's a full round action and not an attack action, you can't combine it with other attacks. And you explicitly cannot make attacks of opportunity with them. I'd skip it entirely. Tome of Magic pg 64. *Dragon Tail: Gain a tail attack. Noteworthy in that it doesn’t need to be bound to a chakra slot in order to gain the extra attack. Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage with the tail. Dragon Magic. *Dragonfire Mask (bound to Totem chakra): Gain a Swift Action Frightful Presence, with a duration dependent upon the amount of essentia invested in it. Dragon Magic. *Fearsome Mask (bound to Brow chakra): Gives you a Gaze attack. Enemies must Save or be Shaken. It explicitly functions as a normal Gaze attack, which means that it functions continuously and that enemies must Save against it every round. Unlike other Gaze attacks, it does not effect allies. And unlike most other Fear effects, enemies who successfully Save against it one round are not immune to it for 24 hours. And the soulmeld itself provides an Insight bonus to Intimidate, which can be used to Demoralize. And keep in mind that Fear effects stack with other Fear effects (though no effect ever stacks with itself), so if you layer on any other Fear effect, weak minded enemies will soon be running away from you (and provoking attacks of opportunity). Magic of Incarnum pg 66. *Flame Cincture (bound to Waist chakra): Provides Resistance to Fire based 10 + 5 points per essentia invested in it, and on the round after you absorb any Fire damage you can release it as an attack as a Swift Action. Wade into combat, have a friend dump a Fireball into the middle of melee, and then deal the damage again to a surviving enemy. Or better yet, have him cast a Wall of Fire. Magic of Incarnum pg 67. *Girallon Arms (bound to Arms chakra): Gain the Rend ability for your pre-existing claw attack. Magic of Incarnum pg 68. *Girallon Arms (bound to Totem chakra): Gain 4 (!) claw attacks. Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage with the claws. Magic of Incarnum pg 68. *Gorgon Mask (bound to Totem chakra): Gain a Trample attack. Magic of Incarnum pg 69. *Heart of Fire (bound to Waist chakra): Whenever someone hits you with a Grapple, unarmed strike, or natural weapon, they take 1d6 points of Fire damage for every point of essentia invested in this soulmeld. This can be absolutely devastating against a monster making a full attack against you, especially if you also have some sort of Karmic Strike combo working for you. Manufactured weapons also take this damage (though it's divided by 50%, since it's Fire damage, and you have to worry about Hardness) essentially giving you free Sunder attacks as well. Magic of Incarnum pg 70. *Kruthik Claws (bound to Totem chakra): Gain 2 claw attacks. Each point of essentia invested in it adds 1d4 Acid damage. Magic of Incarnum pg 74. *Lamia Belt (bound to Totem chakra): Gain 2 claw attacks. Unlike most other claw attacks, the Lamia belt does not require you to give up holding a manufactured weapon in order to use it. Magic of Incarnum pg 74. *Landshark Boots (bound to Totem chakra): Claws grow out of your hands and feat. Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage with the claws. You can attack with the claws in your hands like normal claws. You also gain a limited (and oddly worded Standard Action) Pounce ability which lets you attack with all four claws. Magic of Incarnum pg 76. *Mantle of Flame: Anyone striking you (except for enemies using a manufactured reach weapon standing more then 5 ft away) take 1d6 Fire damage plus an additional +1d6 for each point of essentia invested in it. This soulmeld is noteworthy in that it doesn't need to be bound to a chakra slot in order to be useful in combat, and that it stacks with the Heart of Fire soulmeld, although they interact oddly (Heart of Fire won't effect everyone that Mantle of Flame effects, and vice verses). Magic of Incarnum pg 78. *Necrocarnum Shroud (bound to Waist chakra): Creates an aura that provides you with a minor bonus. At the beginning of your turn, anyone within the aura must Save or become Shaken. Noteworthy in that enemies who pass the Save aren't immune for 24 hours. Magic of Incarnum pg 30. *Necrocarnum Vestments (bound to Waist chakra): Any living creature adjacent to you takes 1d6 Cold damage at the end of your turn. Magic of Incarnum pg 30. *Phase Cloak (bound to Totem chakra): Gain a bite attack that also deals Poison damage. Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit with the bite. Magic of Incarnum pg 82. *Rage Claws (bound to Totem Chakra): Gain 2 claw attacks. Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage with the claws. Also, you don't take the standard -4 penalty to hit while Grappled when attacking with Rage Claws. Magic of Incarnum pg 84. *Shedu Crown (bound to Totem Chakra): Gain a Trample attack. Magic of Incarnum pg 85. *Sphinx Claws (bound to Totem Chakra): Gain 2 claw attacks. Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage with the claws, plus a +1 bonus to Strength checks (such as Trip or Bull Rush). Magic of Incarnum pg 38. *Threefold Mask of the Chimera (bound to Totem Chakra): Gain 3 bite attacks. But there's an odd mechanic for how you use them, so on a normal full attack action, you're only gaining 1 bite. Magic of Incarnum pg 90. *Unicorn Horn (bound to Totem chakra): Gain a Gore attack. Unicorn Power! Each point of essentia invested in it adds a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage with the horn. Also, this soulmeld increases your Wild Empathy ability, which is an extremely useful and underused ability (as it can be used on magial beasts). Magic of Incarnum pg 91. *Winter Mask (bound to Totem chakra): Gain a bite attack. Each point of essentia invested in it adds 1d4 Cold damage. Magic of Incarnum pg 93. Races/Templates*Anthropomorphic Giant Octopus: Giant version has 6 tentacles (and 2 legs). No LA (oddly), but 2 racial HD. Or you can go with the Anthropomorphic Giant Squid gets 8 tentacle attacks (starts with 10, two become legs) and is Large size, for 3 template HD and +1 LA. Also, I have yet to meet a DM who would allow this outside of a joke campaign. Savage Species pg. 216. *Darfellan: Natural bite. +0 LA. Stormwrack. *Diopsid: A dumber/slower Thri-Kreen. It has some wonky 3.0ish/TWFish rules for the extra arms, but works quite well if you want to dual-wield a pair of two-handed weapons. +1 LA. Dragon Compendium. *Draconic Template: Claws. +1 LA. Races of the Dragon. *Entomanothrope: Varied natural attacks from base vermin. +2 LA. *Feral: 2 claw attacks, Rake, and Rend. +1 LA. Savage Species. *Half-Dragon: Primary or secondary claws according to the SRD, and secondary bite. +2 LA if you just want the natural attacks, +3 for full Half-Dragon-hood. *Half-Far Spawn: 2 tentacles. +4 LA. Lords of Madness. *Half-Fiend: Primary or secondary claws according to the SRD, and secondary bite. +1 LA for claws, +2 for claws and bite, +4 for full Half-Fiend-hood. *Kobold variant: 2 primary claws and 1 secondary bite. Online only. *Krynn Minotaur: Have a gore attack dealing 1d6 damage + Str mod (or 0.5 Str mod as secondary) or 2d6 + 1.5 Str mod on a Charge. Dragonlance Campaign Setting p 43. *Lich: Secondary paralyzing touch attack. +1 LA for touch attack, that improves the attack with template progression. +4 LA for full Lich-dom. *Lizardfolk: 2 claws and a bite plus other nifty bonuses. +1 LA and 2 racial hit dice though, so it's not a great choice. MM. *Marilith: While 16 HD places this even outside of Polymorph range, the Demonbinder PrC (see above) can get you something similar. MM p. 44. *Minotaur: Gore. 1 level of the Minotaur monster class to get the gore attack, which improves as you progress in that class, up to level 7. *Multiheaded: Scales with HD. Notable for being one of the few ways to get multiple bite attacks. +2 LA. Savage Species. *Shifters: Varies. +0 LA. Races of Eberron. *Skarn: Adds 1 Spine attack (bones that grow out of your arms) as a natural weapon. You can't attack with a Spine attack and a weapon in the arm your Spine attack is coming from in the same round. Good race for Monks and Totemists. You can use TWF with your Spine if you take levels of the Spinemeld Warrior prestige class, but it's a sucky PrC. Magic of Incarnum. *Tako: 4HD aberration. While its arms don't do any damage, it can wield up to 7 weapons without a penalty. I'm not sure if the errata/update included LA values, but if you start out as an Elan (+0 LA aberration), you can Alter Self into this form at a low level. Oriental Adventures p. 193. *Thri-Kreen. 4 arms and bite. +2 LA and 2 monstrous humanoid hit dice for Psionic version from Expanded Psionics Handbook. +1 LA plus 2 monstrous humanoid hit dice for the non-psionic version from Shining South pg 16. Given the ridiculous number of perks that they get, I'd say that this is one of the few LA/HD races that I would endorse taking, especially for a mid-low level build. *Voidmind: 1 tentacle from head. +3 LA. Monster Manual 3. *Warforged: Slam attack. Races of Eberron. *Werebear: Looking at the MM and SRD, it seems as if the Werebear, like a Half-Dragon or Half-Fiend, has primary or secondary claw attacks and a secondary bite, even though other Were creatures can only use their claws as primary attacks. Wierd. All were-creatures are +2/+3 (infected/natural) LA plus animal hit dice, with the option of weird template class progression. *Wereboar or Dire Wearboar: Primary claw and secondary gore attack. *Wererat: Secondary bite with disease. *Weretiger: 2 primary claws and secondary bite. *Werewolf: 2 primary claws and secondary bite. *Xill: 4 claws, multiple arms, and Improved Grab. Sadly, they have 5 Outsider HD and +4 LA. In addition, special attacks such as Bull Rush, Disarm, and Trip often generate AoO. Those are covered in my melee guide. Anything that gives you additional actions (such as Celerity) also gives you potential additional attacks. And as a general piece of advice, I'd say that every melee build that has more then one attack needs some method of making a full attack every round. Also, be mindful that some of the methods of getting extra attacks also apply penalties to hit. Stacking too many of them will lead to a lot of missed attacks. Ways to get pounce, free movement, or something in that ballpark: Earliest ECL available: Method. *1: Falling is a free action. Be creative. *1: Buy a wagon or chariot. Have an animal companion, special mount, hired NPC, or party member pull it. *1: Lion Totem Barbarian 1 (Complete Champion) *1: Snow Tiger Berserker feat (restrictions, Unapproachable East) *1: Lion Tribe Warrior feat (restrictions, Shining South) *1: Evasive Reflexes feat (grants 5 ft step instead of AoO, Tome of Battle) *1: Travel Devotion feat (Swift Action movement every round for 1 minute, once per day and can burn Turn/Rebuke Undead for more uses, Complete Champion) *1: Dimension Hop psionic power (Swift Action, 10 feet movement that can be augmented for more, Complete Psionic) *1: Benign Transposition spell (Standard Action, switch places of any two willing allies, Spell Compendium) *1: Sudden Leap Tiger Claw maneuver (Swift Action movement based on Jump check, Tome of Battle) *1: Wizard 1 (Give up Familiar for Immediate Action 10 ft teleport, Player's Handbook II). *1: Razorclaw Elite feat (Lets you make 2 claw attacks at the end of a Charge instead of the usual one. Races of Eberron). *1: Protective Imposition spell (Cleric 1/Paladin 1, trade places with ally as a Swift action, Forge of War pg 115) *1: Broken One's Sacrafice feat (Trade places with an adjacent ally as Immediate Action in response to an attack. You take the attack, and become Fatigued. Champions of Valor pg 28) *2: Feral template (Pounce, but only on 1st round, Savage Species) *2: Catfolk Pounce feat (Catfolk only, restrictions, Races of the Wild) *2: Mulhorandi Divine Minion (Anhur) template *2: Threefold Mask of the Chimera (limited extra Move, Magic of Incarnum) *3: Celerity, Lesser spell. (Immediate action to gain free move action, Dazed next round. Spell Compendium) *3ish: Anklet of Translocation (Swift Action 10 ft movement, 2/day, Magic Item Compendium) *4: Hustle power (Swift Action movement, Expanded Psionics Handbook) *4: Psionic Lion's Charge power (Expanded Psionics Handbook) *4: Marshal 4 (free movement for every ally but not you, Miniatures Handbook) *4: Claw Gloves (one extra attack with claws on charge or Spring Attack, doesn't stack with anything else, Magic Item Compendium) *4: Anthropomorphic Tiger (Savage Species) *4: Berronar Valkyrie Paladin substitution level (Restrictions, and trades away your Turn Undead ability. Champions of Valor) *4: Greaves of Aundair (+10 speed, and 3/day "immediately take a move action", but you're dazed until the end of your next turn. Forge of War p. 124). *5: Lion's Charge spell (Druid 3/Ranger 2 spell, Spell Compendium) *5: Knight's Move spell (Cleric 3/Paladin 2 spell, Swift Action movement to any flanking position in range, Spell Compendium) *5: Wild Shape class ability (any form that has pounce) *5: White Raven Tactics, White Raven maneuver (change initiative order for one ally, essentially giving them 2 turns in one round, Tome of Battle) *5: Paimon vestige (Every enemy you move past gets hit, Tome of Magic) *5: Sphinx Claws chakra bind (with natural weapons, Magic of Incarnum) *5: Flicker mystery (move 5' per mystery-user level as an immediate action. Standard Action to cast, lasts rounds/level. Tome of Magic) *5: Formation Expert feat (free move when an ally in a line drops. Hint: Have an ally Summon many weak creatures. Complete Warrior) *5: Mobile Spellcasting feat (free move when you cast a Standard Action spell if you make a Concentration check. Complete Adventurer p 111) *5ish: Sparring Dummy of the Master (10 ft step instead of 5, requires 1 level of Monk, Arms and Equipment Guide) *6: Lion's Pounce feat (Complete Divine) *6: Dervish 1 (dance limited times per day, Complete Warrior) *6: Two Weapon Pounce feat (only 2 attacks, sucks, PHB II) *6: Faith Unswerving (Immediate Action movement after a successful Charge, Tome of Battle) *6: Cunning Evasion feat (when you successfully use Evasion you get an Immediate Action 5 ft step and Hide check, PHBII) *6: Sidestep feat (5 ft step after any AoO, once per round, Miniatures Handbook) *6ish: Belt of Battle (extra actions, limited charges per day, Magic Item Compendium) *7: Polymorph spell (many forms grant Pounce or similar abilities) *7: Metamorphosis power (as Polymorph) *7: Celerity spell (Immediate action to gain free standard action, Dazed next round. Spell Compendium) *7ish: Magic Roller Skates (10 ft step instead of 5, 3 per day, Online) *8: Weretouched II: Tiger (Shifter, only while shifting, Eberron Campaign Setting) *8: Factotum 8 (extra Standard Action, Dungeonscape) *8: Evasive Skitter: Kobold Rogue 8 alternate class feature (Free movement outside of blast radius of Reflex Save spell/effect. Races of the Dragon). *9: Pouncing Charge Tiger Claw maneuver (Tome of Battle) *9: Press the Advantage White Raven stance (extra 5 ft step, Tome of Battle) *9: Wild Plains Outrider 3 (Complete Adventurer) *9ish: Psicrown of the Evader (Hustle, others, Expanded Psionics Handbook) *9ish+: Twin Power (two powers at once) *9ish+: Quicken Power (Swift Action power) *9ish+: Quicken Spell (Swift Action spell) *10: Claws of the Leopard (spiked gauntlets only, Comp Adventurer) *10: Reachrunner 5 (restrictions, Races of Eberron) *10: Crinty Shadow Marauder 5 (Shining South) *10: Vanus vestige (Standard Action, grants an ally a free Move action and Freedom of Movement until the end of your turn. WotC article) *10ish: DC 40 Tumble Check (10 ft step, Oriental Adventures) *11: Kishi Charger 6 (Oriental Adventures) *11: Wildrunner 6 (Races of the Wild, limited uses) *11: Singh Rager 4 (Oriental Adventures) *11: Lion of Talisid 5 (Book of Exalted Deeds) *11: Desert Tempest Dessert Wind maneuver (every enemy you move past hit, Tome of Battle) *11: Temporal Acceleration power (1 free round) *11: Inconsistent Location psionic power (Swift action teleport every round, Comp Psionic) *12: Ashworm Dragoon 7 (Sandstorm) *12: Chupoclops vestige (Tome of Magic) *12: Elocator (extra 5 ft step, Expanded Psionics Handbook) *12: Nightsong Infiltrator 5 (free movement for every ally but not you, Comp Adventurer) *13: Geomancer 7 (Complete Divine) *13: Halfling Outrider 8 (Complete Warrior) *13: Quicksilver Motion Diamond Mind boost (Tome of Batttle). *13: Shadow Blink Shadow Hand maneuver (Swift Action teleport, Tome of Battle) *13: Blade of Orien 10 (Whenever you use Dimension Leap, which is a Move Action, Dragonmarked) *14: Cavalier 6 (mounted move and full attack, but not a Charge, Complete Warrior) *14: Teflammar Shadowlord 4 (Shadow Pounce!, Unapproachable East) *14: Swiftblade 9 (extra actions, Swiftblade 10 grants variant Time Stop) *15: Celerity, Greater spell. (Immediate action to gain free full-round action, Dazed next round. Spell Compendium) *15: Wolf Pack Tactics Tiger Claw stance (free 5 ft step with each successful melee attack). *17: Shapechange spell *17: Greater Metamorphosis power *17: Time Stop spell (1d4+1 free rounds) *19: Threefold Mask of the Chimera (extra Standard, no action on next turn, Magic of Incarnum) *20: Eternal Blade 10 capstone, Island in Time. Once per encounter, take your turn as an Immediate Action without changing your place in the Initiative count (it, you get two turns in one round, Tome of Battle) *21: Dire Charge epic feat (Draconomicon) Unless otherwise noted, the ability granted is Pounce. Some methods have various restrictions, which I've noted where applicable. Usually it limits you to certain weapons or a limited number of attacks. I'm too lazy to write them all out though, so look them up before using them. Please let me know if I missed anything or got anything wrong. IMO, getting Pounce or free movement is pretty much a requirement for most melee build by ECL 11 at the latest. Otherwise your effectiveness is cut by at least 50%, because some rounds you're missing 2 iterative attacks, possibly another one from a Speed effect, TWF, natural attacks, etc. Category:Weapons